THEY'RE NEARLY BRED WITH HIM IN MIND:

A labradoodle is for idiots, not for presidents, Barack Obama (Gill Hornby, 12 Jan 2009, Daily Telegraph)

The first press conference the President-elect gave on this issue was pitch-perfect. The kids had been promised (aaaah!), one of them had allergies (bless), they hoped to find a "mutt" like him (brilliant). But, as so often happens with dog purchasing, it is all about to go horribly wrong. The choice is now between, apparently, either a Portuguese Water Dog or – eek! – a labradoodle. It physically hurts to write it. A labradoodle. The world's coolest guy is about to become leader of the free world and what does he do? He buys a labradoodle.

The selling points of the labradoodle? They don't shed, so there's no mess and no allergy problems. They have that kind of dopey temperament of labs, so they play well with kids and they're unthreatening. And the poodle bit is supposed to make them smart. They are his campaign pitch.

Posted by Orrin Judd at January 12, 2009 5:49 PM